Former Celestún mayor accused of real estate fraud

The former PRI mayor of Celestún Leonel Rosado Mena illegally appropriated valuable land of 24,686 square meters (m2) and 157 linear meters of beach in that port in 2016, when he was in power, according to an investigation.

To do so, Rosado Mena simulated a session in which the local government donated the property to a “ghost” company linked to him.

The land is located between the Gulf of Mexico and the extension of Calle 12 in Celestún, which is near the highway to Sisal, in a privileged area for its white sand and crystalline waters.

According to the Public Registry of Property, the cadastral value of this land is 15,700,000 pesos and the commercial value is 39,250,000 pesos at least, at an average rate of 250,000 pesos per linear meter of beach, according to estimates by economist Antonio Osorio Acevedo, director of Systematic Information of the Peninsula.

However, Rosado Mena kept that property without contributing a single peso.

According to public register number 124 of April 22, 2016, granted before the notary Orlando Paredes Lara, the Celestún City Council awarded lot 3867 free of charge in favor of Comercializadora del Sureste Bull, S.A. de C.V., represented by its attorney and shareholder Lina Asunción Castillo Chan.

This person, the document adds, “acquired the property by the extraordinary session of the council on April 2, 2016, held at the Celestún City Hall, to build a house.

The decision to donate land from the Municipality to a company for the construction of a family home is illegal, among other things because the Government Law of the Municipalities of the State of Yucatán, in its article 155, section V, establishes that the Municipality it is possible to award free of charge a piece of land you own for the construction of housing, but provided that “the surface does not exceed that necessary for social interest housing.”

However, Rosado Mena ignored this provision and authorized the donation of a 24,686 m2 piece of land, overlooking the beach, “for the construction of a house” in favor of Comercializadora del Sureste Bull, an alleged company that, in reality, is part of a scam set up by the former mayor himself.

The Distributor is a “ghost” company with no known activities in the state. It was created on November 20, 2015, with the purpose, among others, of “promoting, facilitating, advising and assisting with higher education and research institutions, the creation of technology-based companies, based on the development of relevant technologies and high commercial potential.

According to the Public Registry of Commerce, this company has two partners: Lina Asunción Castillo Chan and Lety Beatriz Pérez Uicab.

The first was a teacher at the State Education Secretariat until 2018, and the second worked at the Tetiz public library until 2012. Neither of them accredits experience in the creation of technology-based companies. The members registered a house owned by Rosado Mena as the registered office of their company.

According to various local media, Rosado Mena is one of the main members of the so-called “real estate mafia of the coast”, responsible for illegally seizing 10,594 linear meters of beach and 2,551,752 m2 of surface area in Celestún and Dzilam Bravo, during the government of Rolando Zapata Bello.

TYT Newsroom